Quantitative measurement of wound spreading in radial keratotomy.

Background: Many studies of radial keratotomy have been performed, however quantitative laboratory evaluation of the biomechanics of this procedure is still incomplete. Furthermore, most measurements of strain in the past have utilized strip testing, thus destroying the normal physiological structure and water balance of the cornea.

Methods: We report on a membrane inflation method of wound spreading in intact human corneas using the Baribeau Micronscope.

Strip extensiometry for comparison of the mechanical response of bovine, rabbit, and human corneas.

Specimens of bovine, rabbit, and human corneas were systematically tested in uniaxial tension to experimentally determine their effective nonlinear stress-strain relations, and hysteresis. Cyclic tensile tests were performed over the physiologic load range of the cornea, up to a maximum of 10 percent strain beyond slack strain. Dimensional changes to corneal test specimens, due to varying laboratory environmental conditions, were also assessed.

Design optimization of a prosthesis stem reinforcing shell in total hip arthroplasty.

The use of a perforated, titanium funicular shell to support the proximal femoral cortex in total hip arthroplasty was evaluated with the aid of both analytical and numerical techniques. The principal interactions between the femoral cortex, the metal shell, the implant stem and the acrylic bone cement were modeled using beam on elastic foundations theory and two-dimensional elasticity theory. Subsequent formulation of this model as a nonlinear design optimization problem enabled the determination of the dimensions of the implant and reinforcing shell which minimized an objective function based on a simplified material failure criterion.

The effects of femoral head size on the deformation of ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene acetabular cups.

Late loosening of cemented acetabular cups is increasingly being recognized as a clinical problem. One of the factors which may contribute to loosening is high localized deformation and stress at the cement-bone interface, the magnitude of which depends on the size of the total hip replacement (THR) femoral head. The effects of varying the femoral head size, from 22 to 32 mm, on strain values measured on the surface of the cup were investigated using experimental stress analysis techniques.

A comparative biomechanical study of spinal fixation using Cotrel-Dubousset instrumentation.

A biomechanical study was performed comparing the stiffness and stability of Cotrel-Dubousset (CD) spinal instrumentation with that of segmentally wired Harrington distraction rods and segmentally wired Luque rods under conditions of single-level instability. The axial and torsional stiffness coefficients of each system were determined on a customized geometric spine simulator fashioned from stainless steel. The relative stability of each instrumentation system was then compared by mounting the fixation systems on bovine thoracic spines from 12-week-old calves, destabilized by anterior vertebrectomy to create simulated two column instability.